


Doodlebug

by maddie_amber



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 22:26:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2445383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddie_amber/pseuds/maddie_amber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth knew what she had done was stupid.  She also knew she'd found a new determination to live.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doodlebug

**Author's Note:**

> For a complete list of my TWD fiction please see my profile. I’ve tried to keep my stories and drabbles consistent so that when read in the order listed they make a coherent narrative.

The last time Daddy called her Doodlebug Beth was six and had broken her arm falling off her pony. Today, he had spent most of the afternoon sitting by her side, telling her silly stories from when he was in veterinary school. It was like having her own version of _All Creatures Great and Small_. Daddy had read those books to her when she was little, whenever he had been out late, called to some distant farm to tend a sick or injured animal and had missed her bedtime story. The other vets in the area preferred to treat pets and small animals so most folks around here knew Hershel was the one to call for a sick cow or horse or pig. Daddy never said no. Whatever the hour when he got home, he would sit by her bedside, and read by flashlight. She remembered waking to the soft whisper of his voice, and she would be comforted to know he had returned. 

Today he had had to fix his daughter. Not because she fell off her horse but because she had done something stupid. Beth pushed herself to a sitting position and her head spun. _Loss of blood will do that_ , Daddy had said. _It will make you weak and dizzy_. She swung her feet over the side of the bed, being careful not to lean on her left arm. The white bandages wrapping her wrist a stark reminder of how foolish she could be. She would never forget the pain and the scarlet gush of blood, the coppery smell. Life, she had realized in that moment, was too precious. Especially now. Beth was determined to live. She had to. Daddy and Maggie needed her more than she ever knew.


End file.
